Henry's THREE!

I realize it's been a while since I've blogged. Apparently we've been busy...I'll call that life. But more about our busyness another time (maybe). This is all about Henry!

Last week, our little boy turned three years old. I can hardly believe it. 

Here are some things to report about this three-year-old boy...

Henry is full of joy, extremely expressive, and actively engages everyone he is around. He simply LOVES life. I think he views every situation as though it is his duty to be the sole entertainer. He loves to throw himself on the floor or dance in a goofy way just to earn a few laughs from people around him. Or, he will run from person to person poking them (or in some cases, playfully smacking them) just to get a response. Henry loves to be chased, tickled, wrestled, and thrown in the air. And his laugh is VERY contagious and fills the whole room.

Henry ADORES his older sister. Quite literally every single day as we wait for Adele to come out of school, he stands with his arms wide open and runs up to her for a big hug. He follows her around, plays with her toys, dresses like a princess, brushes her hair, and runs errands for her. In return, she laughs at his shenanigans, and that keeps him completely content.

Of course, Henry pushes the right buttons to annoy his sister as well, like any good sibling. He stretches out on the couch just enough to touch her and bother her, and he conveniently decides to want to sit in the chair she likes for breakfast - just to bother her. 

And while Henry enjoys playing with Adele's toys and her made-up games, he absolutely loves his own toys. He randomly places the yardstick around the house as a "bridge" for his cars, he can often be found playing with one of his trains or other trucks, and he yells with delight anytime he hears an airplane overhead.

Henry also loves to be outside. There is no sneaking outside to dump the compost or take out the recycling without Henry at our feet, shoving his way out the door. He has learned how to fill up the watering can and loves to water the garden, and he has recently discovered a love for playing baseball or soccer in the backyard. He always manages to find the dirt and mud, and he seems to collect rocks and sticks that we find randomly. In fact, lately I have found him asleep at night with a stick he has somehow hidden in his bed.

Henry is not only a playful little boy, but he also is the best at cuddling. He loves to snuggle in while watching a movie, and he gives wonderful hugs that I never want to forget. He is a great little companion. He loves to run errands, and follows me around the house doing chores and cleaning. And when I sit and have a cup of coffee, he cuddles up next to me with his own cup of "coffee" - milk and creamer. 

I can't believe we are completely past the baby stage, in what seems to be every way possible. Henry started really potty-training in December and by the time we were back in Oklahoma after visiting family for Christmas, he went to underwear all the time. He has done quite well with very few accidents. We switched Henry to a big boy bed (bunk beds for the kids!) in the fall. Henry enjoys his big bed, though has problems falling out...I put blankets down every night and we are finally getting past the point of him falling out every other night. :) 

I just love him. And I think he might be the best little boy in the whole world.

Fighting off intruders with his sword

Helping Daddy in the garden and they found this cool legless lizard!

Face painting at the museum - a scary kitty?

Concentrating hard on painting

My little helper, cleaning the mirrors

Riding bikes!

These two love each other very much!

Birthday balloons!

I love the way Henry is looking at Adele

Birthday cupcakes with a few friends - my attempt at a "Planes" cake

Cheese! Love this little boy!

Disney World!

It would be a shame not to write a blog post about our trip to Disney World in November. Or multiple posts. One for each day.

To put it mildly, we had a blast. Funny thing is, as much fun as I had, I'm pretty sure I'm not even in the running for who had the most fun. That award would go to Adele, Henry...or David. :)

David grew up going to Disneyland multiple times with his family. He knows every Disney movie ever made. He loves to see our kids get to know Disney characters and movies.

I've been to Disneyland twice...both times with David. As adults. With no kids. In fact, the first Hille family vacation I ever went on was while we were still dating, and all of us adults met up in California to go to Disneyland - David and myself, his parents, his older sister and husband, and his younger sister. I didn't exactly know the draw of the park, but it sounded fun and I was up for a California vacation.

A few years ago, my dad turned 60 and retired pretty much at the same time. He had the idea to treat his family to a big family vacation. There was lots of brainstorming and dreaming, and finally the decision was made to take that trip this past year, to celebrate my parents' 40th wedding anniversary.

And Disney World it was.

So after many months of planning (seriously - we had to make reservations at a number of restaurants 6 months in advance, and choose our fastpasses a couple months in advance), we all embarked on the trip over to Florida to spend Thanksgiving Week at Disney World.

And what an adventure it was! I can't stress enough how grateful I am to have these memories with my whole family. A trip of a lifetime.

We had a 4-day pass, and the first 3 days we all stayed together - visiting Animal Kingdom, Magic Kingdom, and Hollywood Studios respectively. The 4th day we went back to Magic Kingdom along with my older sister Emily and her family (we both have young kids, and it made the most sense), while the rest of my family went to Epcot.

It's hard to pick the highlights. But in order to avoid devoting many blog posts to every wonderful moment that happened, here were some of my favorite things about the week:

*Warning: LOTS of adorable pictures to follow...*

- My kids' attitudes. We were waking them up early, going strong all day every day, and getting back to our hotel room late only to start out early again the next day. And they did awesome. There was very minimal fussing or tears and they embraced pretty much every aspect of Disney World that you can imagine.

- How much FUN we all had. Everyone. Not just the kids, but adults too. In fact, we may be talking about it for years. I loved sharing the experience with everyone in my family and loved that we all embraced it together and had so much FUN. So while most of these highlights are about my kids, it's important to note that Disney brought out the "kid" in ALL of us!

- Meeting the characters. This very well might have been the high of the week. Both Henry and Adele were so excited to meet their favorite Disney characters! I had made each of them an autograph book beforehand and they wanted to meet as many characters as possible and get them to "sign up" on their personalized page. I loved how each character truly stayed in character and made it so much fun for the kids (and let's be honest - I had a blast with it too). Some of the characters that couldn't talk still had big wonderful personalities - Mr. Incredible and Frozone (showing off their muscles and fist-bumping with the kids), and Phineas and Ferb (who tried to get in the stroller with the kids when we left). And then the "villains" like Gaston (who was mad he didn't have his own page in the autograph book and disgusted that the Beast shared a page with "his girl"), or Cinderella's wicked stepsisters and stepmother (the stepmother told Adele "I don't do hugs" and shrugged her off). And both kids were completely enthralled by the princesses. Ariel gave Henry a kiss on the cheek with bright red lipstick, Tinkerbell chattered nonstop, and Adele was totally starstruck by Elsa and Anna.

- Adele going on roller coasters! I had no idea how she would be with some of the "bigger" rides, and they ended up being some of her favorites. She loved the drops on Splash Mountain, and still talks about the Seven Dwarfs Mine roller coaster.

- Character meals. We planned a couple of brunch meals that had characters roam the restaurants while we chowed down. The kids got to dance with Sofia the First and Doc McStuffins, and everyone loved our visits from Mickey, Goofy, Daisy, and Donald.

- Be Our Guest restaurant. There was nothing super special about the food at this restaurant, but there was something very special about walking up to the Beast's castle and having dinner.

- The magic that comes alive. This was truly the case in Magic Kingdom. There is something about Disney World that completely brings to life the movies because of the attention to detail in each setting. Walking past Rapunzel's tower, or looking at the Beast's castle, or standing in front of Cinderella's castle, or heading to Pixie Hollow to meet Tink - the detail was incredible.

- Customer service. One would expect with so many people with such long lines that it would be natural to come across grumpy folks. Not the case, and I believe a lot of it has to do with the Disney Employees (and obviously simply being at the happiest place on Earth). Our last day in the parks, we found ourselves with a stroller with a flat tire, even after trying to pump it up. We took it to the tire service at Magic Kingdom, where they checked it out and had a tire brought in to replace for us. It wasn't a tire size they kept in their stock, so while they were waiting to replace it (FOR FREE), they gave us one of their strollers to use (FOR FREE). We couldn't believe the kindness and generosity!

- Christmas at Disney World! It was most definitely a highlight seeing Cinderella's castle being "frozen" over and lit up in the evening. And the Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights in Hollywood Studios was completely and utterly amazing. We got to see Santa Goofy light up a huge Christmas tree, and then all of the lights on all the buildings and streets around us were all lit up and flashing, as they were set to music. Beautiful.

- The iconic symbols of each park. I loved seeing the Tree of Life, Cinderella's Castle, and Mickey's Sorcerer Hat up close and personal. They are way more impressive and stunning in real life than I could have imagined.

- The Festival of Fantasy parade! Our first day in Magic Kingdom, the parades were rained out. So our second day we made sure to catch it - and we had spots at the beginning of the parade, right in front! Adele quickly found out that her favorite princesses could easily pick her out when she was sitting up on David's shoulders and waving to them. She would blow kisses, and many pointed at her and blew kisses back! This parade was definitely a highlight, seeing so many favorite characters all together and acknowledging Adele.

- Breakfast at Tusker House. I already mentioned the character breakfasts, but the first was the best with Henry because it was the first time he saw any characters, and they happened to be his favorite. When we first walked in and he saw Mickey, Goofy, Daisy, and Donald walking around, he just about lost his mind with excitement. The characters would walk around from table to table, so while we were waiting we filled up our plates. Henry stuffed his face SO fast and quit eating completely when they got close to our table. He didn't hesitate at all to run up and give them hugs!

- Art of Animation resort. We stayed in the Little Mermaid wing, but loved walking around and seeing the other areas of Cars, Lion King, and Finding Nemo as well. So great to stay in a Disney resort and see Disney come to life right around us. The detail in the pools, the bigger-than-life characters on display, and the decor in each room was so fun.

- The Lion King show. Besides meeting the characters, there is no way I could pick my favorite overall experience. But as far as shows go, this was hands down my favorite. Beautiful, colorful, acrobatic, and great music obviously.

- Seeing even a different side of my husband. I've been to Disneyland twice with David, but even this was a different experience. Maybe it was because we have kids now, and experiencing Disney World with them provides unbelievable memories and emotions than to be expected. But ever since getting back from Disney World, we have spent many conversations re-living our time there, dreaming about going back, planning future trips...and the phrase "I wish we were at Disney World" is used way too often. David even admits to going through a bit of mourning after the trip was over. He grew up going on trips to Disneyland and I never truly understood the magic he felt about all things Disney...and I get it a little bit (according to David, I still don't totally understand!). Disney came alive this trip, and having our kids with us completely enhanced that experience.

Basically, I can't wait to go back.

Pretend Play

I have such a love-hate relationship with pretend play.

I absolutely LOVE it because my kids have been doing such a good job playing together. For long periods of time.

Adele and Henry play hairstylists and turn the living room into a barber shop.

They play dress-up, and take turns going through all of the princess dresses (yes, even Henry) and act out movies. Frozen is an obvious favorite.

They "camp out" and turn their room into the forest and set up beds and roast s'mores.

They play "store" where Adele runs a store from their room and pulls out all sorts of things she wants us to come in and buy (secretly I think this is her way of making money, as she requires actual pocket change for her stuff).

They play pirates and take turns who gets to be Jake, or Peter Pan, or Wendy...I usually get asked to fill in as Captain Hook. :)

Pretend play is great.

And yet, I absolutely do NOT love it because there is no way ever, ever, EVER to keep a clean house.

"Cleaning with kids in the house is like brushing your teeth while eating Oreos."

Ahh, these are the good ol' days.

French braiding

When I was in 5th grade I taught myself how to french braid. I remember thinking about braiding in my head, and then figuring out how to add hair to each strand as the braid continued down the head. Not bad for a 5th grader who didn't have internet. :)

I then began to practice, and found that it was really fun to come up with new creations or designs. I often would braid many of my teammates' hair on the bus ride to our sporting event and loved it when one of them would come up with something new to try.

When I found out I was pregnant with Adele, knew the day would come that I would be able to braid her hair as well. She has the perfect hair to braid - slightly curly, not very fine. And of course, she's adorable.

I've never been very good at doing hair that didn't involve braids. Ponytails and pigtails are pretty much my limit - no curling irons for me!

Now that Adele is in school every day, I've had to pay more attention to how her hair is done as she walks out the door. Often she wants to leave it down or put it back in a headband, but sometimes she loves to sit and let me braid her hair. I choose braids around the fact that I have about 25 minutes to get it finished (the length of one morning tv show, the bribe I use in exchange for her sitting still for me!).

I know she won't let me braid her hair forever, so I'm taking advantage of the moments I can sit and braid my beautiful daughter's hair.

Here are some of my favorites!